I have symptoms of anxiety while performing prayers; what can I do?

- When I prayed regularly, I had symptoms of extreme physical anxiety, such as shortness of breath and an enfeebling pressure in the chest area for many years.
- It often prevented me from performing prayers as it seemed impossible to live with those symptoms in daily life. I really do not know what to do.
- Do you have any suggestions other than performing prayers and reading the Quran?
- What can I do if those symptoms are triggered by personal history or psychic trauma?

Dear Brother / Sister,

It is understood from what you describe that you have a serious anxiety problem. Our advice to you for an anxiety problem of this level is to see a religious psychotherapist who is a specialist first without wasting time because in order to solve the problem, it is necessary to understand the psychological dynamic underlying your “extreme anxiety”, especially while performing prayers. If it is understood and if an awareness occurs, the source of distress can come from the unconscious to the conscious. Then, the automatic negative thoughts that cause you anxiety and stress can be prevented.

Excessive anxiety is caused by unrealistic, exaggerated, or negative thoughts whose reasons we do not exactly know. The origin of the unknown anxieties lies either in a trauma experienced in the past or in an event such as violence, humiliation, derogation, attack on personality, injury to personality, etc. Or it happens when what you do and your thoughts, values, and beliefs conflict. In your case, you either had a problem directly related to prayer or you had a problem before a prayer or in an issue that the prayer evoked. Or, the devil gives you false delusions about prayer.

Understanding it can untie the Gordian knot.

If you do not have the opportunity to go to a religious psychotherapist who is a specialist, I hope you will experience some relief when you yourself notice what the main reason for the anxiety is.

1) We recommend you to write the following regularly.

a) The first thing you need to determine: We think that those anxieties started after a certain point in your life, not on the first day you started performing prayers. When did your anxiety first begin at this level, and what changed in your life and world of thought at that time? If you can detect it, you will be relieved because you will realize what the real source of trouble is then.

b) The second thing you need to determine: Do you experience this problem every time you pray in your normal life, or occasionally? If you feel it from time to time, write down on a piece of paper what you go through and what goes through your mind at that time.

c) The third thing you need to determine: When does the severity of the extreme anxiety you feel increase and when does it decrease? What automatic thoughts run through your mind as it increases or decreases?

d) The fourth thing you need to determine: Do you experience this anxiety only while praying, or do you experience it at other times, for example, during other deeds of worship? If you experience it only while performing prayers, write down the automatic thoughts about the belief that you have before the prayer or what the prayer evokes.

If you write those four items regularly for about a month, you will be able to draw easily the scale of the negative automatic thoughts that lead you to anxiety like an electrocardiogram. After that, search and think about how unrealistic those negative thoughts are.

2) Although we cannot completely eliminate our negative emotions on our own, we can reduce their severity and frequency. You can also take some precautions to reduce the discomfort caused by severe anxiety.

a) You should know that none of those anxieties harms your belief, prayers and other deeds of worship. They are like the impurity reflected in the mirror; in such a case, the mirror is not dirty, and the anxieties reflected in your inner world will never harm the prayer.

b) You can practice deep breathing before the prayer. This breathing exercise that you will do when you are anxious will provide relaxation in your body. However, this breath should be diaphragmatic breathing and should be taken deeply. Close your eyes, think of a place or event that gives you peace of mind, visualize a beautiful view in your mind. Slowly count to eight with each inhalation and do the same with each exhalation.

c) Reconsider your thoughts about prayer. It is not the prayer that causes you anxiety; it is your automatic thoughts about prayer or the delusions of the devil. In this context, we recommend you to read the topics of prayer and delusions in the “Twenty-First Word (Yirmi Birinci Söz)” from the Risale-i Nur Collection frequently.

d) Go to large mosques frequently and watch how people pray peacefully there. Engrave their peaceful state in your mind. And then visualize it in your mind. The more often you do this, the more relaxed you will be.

May our Lord help you.

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